A national conference bringing together officials from the Department for Transport, Rail Delivery Group, Rail Operators and disabled rail passengers is needed so that assisted travel across the rail network improves regardless of where you live.
In just a few years time all rail operators across England will be under public ownership and this is partly why I feel that a national conference on this issue would help to reassure rail passengers who have disabilities or mobility issues that assisted travel will hopefully get better.
I have been working with the accessibility team from West Midlands Trains for a number of months now to improve the accessibility of stations across the network that they managed which either have high volumes of passenger assistance requests passing through or are classed as unstaffed.
My home town station is managed by Transport for Wales who operate services from Cardiff to Manchester and of course throughout Wales. I do however use services operated by West Midlands Trains when travelling around the Midlands and Great Western Railway when travelling to the capital.
As I use 3 different rail operators to travel around the country it can be difficult to work with them all at once to improve the assisted travel service that is offered by them, hence why having a national conference on the issue would mean that I could talk to all of them in one place.
Passengers should also be given an opportunity to share their story with the entire room so that it can hit home to the key decision makers why assisted travel across the United Kingdom is currently shambolic.
This is one of the only ways that will ensure that the service gets better, across WMT’s network alone it is used by thousands of passengers on a monthly basis.
My message to the officials from the Department for Transport, Rail Delivery Group and Rail Operators is clear and is this, “Disabled rail passengers are fed up to put it nicely of the assisted travel service that you offer us across the nation not being fit for purpose, regardless of where we live.
” This simply cannot go on any longer, you don’t treat those who are able to just turn up at a station and jump on a train straight away like this so why treat those who need a little support to complete a simple act like second class citizens”.
We deserve better now and not in 5 or 10 years time!!!!!!!!!
If you travel by rail on a regular basis and require assistance to board or disembark services, your assisted travel can be booked up to 2 hours before departure in 1 of 3 ways:
By Phone: 0800 024 8998 or by using Next Generation Text – 18001 0800 024 8998.
Online: https://booking.passengerassistance.com
By using the App: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/passenger-assistance/id1542190496
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Cam
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